SPA Girls Podcast – EP331 – Reignite Your Writing Joy
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Feeling a bit blah about your writing?
Struggling with getting good words down and your word count UP? Today we’re taking inspiration from Marie Kondo, and we’re sparking back the joy in our writing lives!
Our SPA Girls tried-and-true steps are:
1. Re-commit to your Why
2. Re-evaluate your ideal writing life / writing day
3. Let gooooooooo
4. Start with Simple
5. Be Like Marie and ask Does It Spark Joy?
As always, a brutally honest and real-time discussion how we’re all struggling a bit for different reasons. Wendy’s tired, but she can still invent words – see “unbogging” as an example!
All Episodes and Resource Links at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com
SPA Girls Podcast – EP329 – Success With Short Romance
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Today we’re delighted to welcome Ella Barnard to the SPA. Ella is an author, a podcast host on Author Like A Boss podcast, and an author coach. She’s here today to talk about how she found success publishing short romances as Liz Fox, going from zero to $3k per month in just three months.
You can find her at: http://authorlikeaboss.com/
Going from zero to $3k per month in just a few months is a dream for many of us and today’s guest achieved just that. Ella Barnard is here to talk how she did it, how she meets reader expectations, and most importantly, how we can still enjoy the process!
All Episodes and Resource Links at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com
SPA Girls Podcast- EP298 – Interview with Lucy Lennox: Success with MM Romance
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We’ve got a very special treat for you this episode – the incredibly talented and savvy, Ms Lucy Lennox, is in the house! Lucy saw extraordinary success straight out the gate, from when she first published her MM romance, Borrowing Blue, in November 2016. In fact, by her second month of publishing, Lucy was earning five figures per month!
Since then, Lucy’s books have soared the bestseller charts consistently and she’s built an incredible career, publishing prolifically (despite a serious health challenge) and building a rabid audience for her sweet and steamy male/male gay romances.
From release strategies, co-writing tips, MM romance tropes to Writing For Your Id and the power of romance beats, Lucy’s honest, no-holds-barred advice will boost your mindset and your business. In fact, we know you’ll come away just as inspired and motivated to get butt-in-chair-hands-on-keyboard we were from talking with Lucy!
No matter what genre you write, this podcast is a must-listen, with something for everyone.
About Lucy Lennox:
After enjoying creative writing as a child, Lucy didn’t write her first novel until she was over 40 years old. Her debut novel, Borrowing Blue, was published in the autumn of 2016. Lucy has an English Literature degree from Vanderbilt University, but that doesn’t hold a candle to the years and years of staying up all night reading tantalizing novels on her own. She has one husband, three children, plays tennis, and hates folding laundry.
Lucy writes male/male gay romance with heart, humor, and heat. To date she’s published 24 novels herself, 12 co-written novels across three series and numerous short stories in her series’ worlds.
Find her at http://www.lucylennox.com/
Join Lucy’s facebook group Lucy’s Lair
Resources Mentioned
Becca Syme’s Write Better Faster course
SPA Girls Podcast – EP284 – Lucy Score talks Reader Groups, Releases and Relationships
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If you’ve ever considered starting up a Facebook reader group, then you need to listen to this episode. Lucy Score’s group is an example of a well run group that is positive, supportive and fun – everything you want in a reader group. She talks to us about how she set it up, and what makes it so great, as well as why she loves her readers so much.
Lucy also gives us insight into her most recent book launch, how she connects to readers and why relationships are such an important part of her very successful Indie career.
The best thing about Lucy? She’s awesome, genuine, and super smart. We love having her on the show, and we know you’ll get a whole bucket load of useful information for your author career in this podcast. Enjoy!
Lucy’s official Bio:
Lucy Score is a Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon bestselling author. Small town contemporary rom-coms are her lady jam and she enjoys delivering the feels with a huge side of happily ever after.
Her books have been translated into several languages, making readers around the world snort laugh, swoon, and sob. Lucy lives in Pennsylvania with the devastatingly handsome Mr. Lucy and their horrible cat.
In her spare time she enjoys sleeping, drinking copious amounts of coffee, and reading all the romance novels in the universe.
Links mentioned:
Previous SPA Girls Podcast episode with Lucy: https://www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep232-interview-with-lucy-score/
SPA Girls Podcast episdoe with Becca Syme: https://www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep146-interview-with-becca-syme-on-writing-better-faster/
Write Better Faster by Becca Syme
https://betterfasteracademy.com/wbf101/
SPA Girls Links:
✔️ Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors https://www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/join/
✔️ You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: https://www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/
✔️ Watch episode recordings on YouTube @ http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast
✔️ Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast
SPA Girls Podcast – EP39 – Finding Focus as an Author
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This week we decided to bring back the challenge episode. It’s the middle of winter here in New Zealand – it’s cold, wet and dreary, and we’re all feeling a little frustrated with where we’re at. So we decided to talk about finding our focus again and pushing forward in our writing careers.
We talk through the issues that we’re each having, from changing family schedules, to slipping in our usual writing and marketing routines or recovering from illness. And then we talk through the plans we have to solve some of these issues and get ourselves back on the track that we’re aiming for. Once you’ve listened to the episode, head over to the Facebook page and check out the posts on what we’re planning to do, and comment on how these things work for you in your life… 🙂
This episode began with the thought of writers we admire, and why they are so successful. To be prolific while maintaining an acceptable financial level (which will be different for all of us) a writer needs to be organised and focused. So many of us are frustrated by not having enough time. Or do we?
Circumstances change – environmental, family, work, distractions, demands on your time. Combine these with housework, cooking etc, and it becomes too easy to justify putting things off for another time or day.
Here’s a few tips to find your focus or, in our case, to refocus:
Set up your habits early.
Make a business plan for six months (more or less if that works for you) – Write down what you want to do, what you need to do, and what your goals are.
Make these visible – use a diary and/or a whiteboard with monthly and daily goals. Tick them off as you achieve them and then add more.
Use your time wisely – no e-mails or phone until you have reached your goal or target.
Be more organised – Break up the day into tasks eg. admin, writing, editing etc. and focus on what you have to do.
Be accountable – ask for help and support to achieve your goals.
Be flexible – figure out new routines when life changes for you.
Health does affect productivity and mind-set. Look after yourself and don’t burn yourself out by pushing through the work when you are not well.
Make a to do list – add audacious goals to push yourself if that’s what you need, otherwise make them realistic.
Note: It is far more important to spend your time writing than all other aspects of the business, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore them. Apply the 80:20 rule. (80 % of your time should be for writing and 20% for business).
Our Challenges
Wendy – Making herself accountable, and stop using outside influences as a crutch. Using her diary and whiteboard to make her goals visible.
Cheryl – Appreciating she can’t do it all. Looking for an assistant to help her with promotion and social media.
Trudi – Miracle morning – Concentrating on her writing, her newsletter, and perhaps Facebook.
Shar – Miracle morning – finding creativity time amongst heavy load work and volunteering. Follow along and, if you’d like to join in, tell us what your challenge is.
Change can be good. J
Steve Scott – Miracle morning
